How To Live A Bulletproof Life On The Bulletproof Diet

Macronutrients are any of the nutritional components of the diet that are required in relatively large amounts: proteins, carbohydrates (sugars), and lipids (fats).

Macronutrients are the backbone of sustainable, healthy eating, and the building blocks of life itself. As such, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids collectively exemplify another area that’s dangerously over-simplified by most diets.

While we may know the importance of macronutrients, what about micronutrients (there’s rarely a macro- without a micro-), or the specific types of proteins, carbs., and fats to eat? Sure, maintaining the proper fats-to-proteins-to-carbs balance is essential, as you could guzzle several protein drinks and stomach 5 steaks per day, yet without enough lipids and carbs, you’ll drastically lose muscle and crash. Recall (00:44 of the video) Dave’s analogy of how quantity—like ‘“eat 20-30 g. of protein”—matters, but not without quality: 30 g. of protein can be sourced from a bowl of eggs, or from toxic, lethal spider venom. 

Click here to read Dave dispel the popular macronutrient misconceptions floating around and explain what you actually need to know. 

Anti-nutrients are natural plant compounds that reduce the body's ability to absorb essential nutrients, like by blocking the digestive enzymes essential for proper nutrient absorption.

As explained by Dave, anti-nutrients are found both commonly and in many, unexpected food sources. Since plants can’t move when threatened, many plants produce natural biochemical toxins to defend themselves against hungry herbivores and/or to compete with neighboring plants by inhibiting their growth.

Many diets do a decent job at removing certain anti-nutrients, like lectins and phytates which are found primarily in grains and legumes. The Bulletproof Diet takes anti-nutrients a step further, however, and also removes oxalates and mold toxins. Oxalates, which you can read more about here, are found in raw cruciferous vegetables such as kale, chard, and spinach. Furthermore, the Bulletproof Diet considers cooking as a form of processing—something not many diets do. 

Cooking can prompt a lot of toxins to form on your food, overheat and oxidize fats, and even denature key proteins if not done properly. The Bulletproof Diet aims to cook your food in the least toxic ways possible in order to eliminate inflammation, allowing you to get the most from your foods. When it comes to anti-nutrients, the Bulletproof Diet delves deep, telling you which foods contain anti-nutritional factors, explaining how to avoid them, and identifying the exact foods that provide the most energy and contain the least performance-robbing, inflammation-causing anti-nutrients and toxins. 

Just as none of the macronutrients are digested in the same way(s), the amount of time it takes to digest and break-down each macronutrient differs. 

In fact, of the three macronutrients, lipids and proteins take longest to break-down, whereas carbohydrates are broken down the quickest due to their simple structure. If you eat a large, protein-dense dinner (e.g., steak) at 9 PM, your nervous system will hate your wide-awake digestive system, and you’ll wake up feeling sluggish and sleep-deprived. And while simple carbs. may not keep your digestive system active for very long, they'll cause your blood sugar to fluctuate ride certainly prevent you from the restful sleep you need to be Bulletproof (among other things). 

Consequently, Dave recommends eating by 8 PM, or optimally, 2-3 hours before bed. 1-2 tablespoons of raw honey (download the Bulletproof Diet Roadmap for details) can help you restock glycogen stores, inhibit the breakdown of muscle, and assist in muscle recovery. Timing foods is key to giving your body the nutritional reinforcement needed to lose and keep off fat.

While we're on the subject of promoting your sleep with food, check out Dave's "Top 6 Ways to Improve Sleep Using Food," and visit his "Simple Bulletproof Meal Plan (with Recipes!)" for a Dave-inspired meal-plan that covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner to Bulletproof every minute of your week with under-30-minute recipes.

If you haven't already, download the Bulletproof Diet Roadmap, which condenses every aspect of the Bulletproof Diet onto a simple, 1-page PDF.